>> from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," december 11th, 2012. >> good evening. i'm bill weir. the line to see santa was growing and a children's choir was scheduled to see carols in a mall outside portland, oregon, tonight. but when as many as 60 shots rang out, the scene turned into terrified chaos. witnesses say a gunman wearing a mask and camouflage was behind the deadly attack and abc's david wright has the latest details. >> reporter: a shopping mall at christmas time is supposed to be safe. so today when witnesses first heard loud pops near the food court of this portland area mall, some thought it was bursting balloons. >> we thought it was balloons. and then we saw little fire thingies. >> like lights. >> reporter: and then the screaming and everyone knew it was something far worse. >> all of a sudden we heard big bang. we covered our ears and then we got down. and then all of a sudden a matter of five seconds later, we heard rapid fire, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and i just took off run